Trust me, Cicero wrote it all down

[sovay]

It has come to my attention that I do not own enough classical music. By this I do not mean Mozart, Britten, Saint-Saëns; I mean songs on classical themes, either historical or mythological, and multiple versions of "King Orfeo" do not count. I blame watermelontail for inspiring me to take inventory; I decided that I wanted to put together a mix CD of Greco-Roman stuff, and then I realized that I had a little over thirty songs, reckoned generously, and most of those were by the Mountain Goats.* So what else is out there? I know already that I need to pick up the Crüxshadows' Ethernaut (2003). I have Human Sexual Response's In a Roman Mood (1981). And I have several takes on Persephone, but who writes about Hermes or Hadrian?

There were fireworks tonight on the field between Lexington High School and the Center Playground; a carnival lit up on the grass, with fried dough and a Ferris wheel where I once walked in endless circles on a freezing May night, hot cocoa and blankets instead of stargazing and bugs. I no longer even remember what the twenty-four-hour relay was raising money for, only the cold and the conversations and the live music, because someone was fiddling "The Rights of Man." Tonight there were bats tacking back and forth between the trees, and I had never watched fireworks from the ground up before. I don't know what it is about explosions that always makes me feel better.

* Which is not any kind of aesthetic strike against them, but it does threaten the hypothetical CD with a certain lack of variety—and I don't even have quite enough to make a whole CD of John Darnielle vs. Classical Antiquity.

Comments

[sovay]

I know YOU'RE the last person to whom I need to recommend Jill Tracy.

"They spoke of the garrotte and the guillotine / Iron maiden and little-ease / But all I know is how you make me feel today . . ."

Fire * Ice's first [and best] album Gilded by the Sun is half medieval covers and half original stuff that sounds medieval, and Sol Invictus has increasingly been going that way as well

Again prompted by watermelontail, I more or less discovered Sol Invictus yesterday. Currently I am in possession of A Mythological Prospect of the Citie of Londinium (2006), which contains three of their songs—their lyrics will require transcription, but I cannot hate any group that starts off a song called "Old Londinium Weeps" with a sound clip from Carry On Cleo. I may also look into the second group on the CD, Rose Rovine e Amanti. Andrew King, however, seriously annoys me. I think he is going to be haunted by William Blake and A.E. Housman, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

but if you're not, run, do not walk, to the record store and buy everything and anything Joanna Newsom.

I have her first album (and the Decemberists' cover of "Bridges & Balloons"); I haven't heard anything from her second. I shall look it up posthaste.

And I swear I've recently heard a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but I'm not turning anything up when googling. Maybe I dreamt it.

If you can confirm you heard it on the radio, I suppose you could call the station? The last two songs I did that with were Loreena McKennitt's "The Lady of Shalott" and Louise Taylor's "Miriam Bell," both of which were worth the time it took to find them. Of course, for one of these I was in high school and the other in college . . .

(Alternately, I could ask you to write it?)

A bit of a lateral jump: Stephen Fearing.

Who I have never heard of, either! You are a library.

Unfortunately, the album I'm thinking of, The Assassin's Apprentice, has been damned hard to find for the last five years or so.

It seems to be still in print.

Also, there's the wonderful world of black metal, which is awash in that sort of thing, but really, you have to be able to stand black metal.

nineweaving very patiently listened to me complaining last night that no one, outside of Norwegians performing death metal as Vikings (and maybe some anime), ever seemed to write songs about Loki. It is possible I'm being unfair, or at least confusing my musical subcultures.

And, to go full circle, Moynihan is the founder of Blood Axis, one of the bands on the fringes of the British Dark Folk movement (though he's American, and his music is on the martial end of things a la NON or early Sol Invictus, rather than the folk end).

I have three tracks of theirs, actually, from a concert with In Gowan Ring: "Sea Ritual," "Dead Men's Slip-Jig," and "Follow Me Up to Carlow." I like the first two, although I wasn't inspired to track down their other albums.

(Blood Axis itself, on the other hand... how shall I put it gently... ummm, sucks. They do a mean cover-- their version of Joy Division's "Walked in Line" is phenomenal-- but their "originals", which are comprised mostly of Moynihan quoting authors at length over sampled and looped classical tunes, get really old really fast.)

I feel vindicated. : P

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Currently I am in possession of A Mythological Prospect of the Citie of Londinium (2006),

Good god, even I don't have a copy of that yet.

Andrew King, however, seriously annoys me.

I've got one song of his (he's on the Sol Lucet Omnibus tribute, which is, as all tributes, half great and half garbage), and I had the same reaction. I'm quite pleased that, in his day job, he's one of the non-vocal members of SI. Very, very pleased.

If you can confirm you heard it on the radio,

That would require me listening to the radio, which I avoid at all costs. On the other hand, if it ever does come to me, it'll limit my options a great deal, since I only listen to (a) college radio and (b) a horrible commercial station my wife likes. (If it was on there, she'd know about it, and she doesn't.) But it may have been at a family function, or even at the grocery store or summat...

(Alternately, I could ask you to write it?)

You could, though whether I'd acquiesce is another story. It's been far longer since I wrote a song than it has been since I wrote a poem... probably twenty years, give or take.

I could tie it in to George R. R. Martin, though...

(There does seem to be a band called Maxim who wrote a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but according to all the lyrics sites, it's an instrumental.)

nineweaving very patiently listened to me complaining last night that no one, outside of Norwegians performing death metal as Vikings (and maybe some anime), ever seemed to write songs about Loki. It is possible I'm being unfair, or at least confusing my musical subcultures.

Ja, confusion, but easy to do if you're not snuggled down in the subculture. The general rule of thumb is that black metal bands have high, screechy vocals, and death metal bands just kinda shout. (There are, of course, any number of exceptions, but at least you won't embarrass yourself with anyone who wears corpse paint to dinner, unless he's a real otaku.) Then there's doom metal, about which all I can say is that I have fallen hopelessly head over heels for a Scots outfit called Man Must Die, who are the best thing to come from Scotland since Del Amitri. (And there's a pairing you won't hear every day...)

And good god, I'd entirely forgotten about In Gowan Ring! I haven't heard the name in at least a decade, and I only ever heard one of their songs (from the Terra Serpentes comp, which probably went out of print when World Serpent went out of business, but my god, is it a must-own... Lemon Kittens/Shock Headed Peters/Karl Blake [and about five other Blake bands, I think], Sol Invictus, Death in June, IGR, Strength Through Joy, Tiny Tim, Current93, Coil, and fifteen or twenty other bands I'm not remembering right off the top of me head), but I did quite enjoy it. A more rustic Strength Through Joy, IIRC.

[sovay]

Good god, even I don't have a copy of that yet.

Sol Invictus, "Old Londinium Weeps"
Sol Invictus, "Down the Road Slowly"
Sol Invictus, "Eve"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "Mid Summer's Dream (After W. Shakespeare) [London Version]"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "Roma (fulcro dell'Impero) [London Version]"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "S. Michele (In Your Sword We Trust!) [London Version]"
Andrew King, "When the Bells Justle in the Tower"
Andrew King, "Polly on the Shore"
Andrew King, "London"

Enjoy!

I've got one song of his (he's on the Sol Lucet Omnibus tribute, which is, as all tributes, half great and half garbage), and I had the same reaction.

His persistence as an artist therefore puzzles me, because I haven't yet found someone I know (rather than a review online) who likes him!

I'm quite pleased that, in his day job, he's one of the non-vocal members of SI.

Oh, thank God.

You could, though whether I'd acquiesce is another story. It's been far longer since I wrote a song than it has been since I wrote a poem... probably twenty years, give or take.

All right: poem, then?

(There does seem to be a band called Maxim who wrote a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but according to all the lyrics sites, it's an instrumental.)

(Ah, well. Thank you for looking.)